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I just installed the SmartCSS extension for Fireworks CS3. When I export the demo file (found here http://www.adobe.com/devnet/fireworks/articles/smart_css.html ) it exports without a problem. But when I try to export a new png I created with the slices the file size is 0kb and the images don't get sliced. I tried everything. Any ideas?? Thanks!

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I made some notes that popped in to my mind. Mostly details, but then again in interface visual design its all about details.

More important stuff are in the UI design, not in GUI department. Like for example, instead of the symbol, should the plus/minus -buttons contain "min/plus". How will the user know what these buttons will do? stuff like that, which makes this interesting.

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Hey that is awesome!!!! One thing, can you try attaching the file to the forum instead of launching a new window to download? Let me know if you find the upload feature confusing, maybe we can make stand out more.

The Smart Knife command lets you split one or more shapes in half using an open path. The built-in knife tool lets you split a path, but only in a straight line, and it doesn't work with text, auto shapes or bitmaps. Smart Knife lets you cut across multiple paths, bitmaps, auto shapes and text blocks with an arbitrarily complex open path.

First, arrange the elements you want to cut. The elements may be stacked on top of each other; Smart Knife can cut through multiple layers just fine. Then use the pen or line tool to draw an open path across those elements. Make sure the ends of the path extend beyond the edges of the shapes you want to cut. Finally, select the elements you want to cut along with the cutting path, and then run the Smart Knife command. The selected objects will be cut into two parts wherever the path intersects them. All of the cut pieces will be selected after running the command, so you'll need to deselect everything before pulling the pieces apart.

If you are cutting a bitmap with a cutting path that is antialised, the resulting bitmaps have an antialiased edge where they were cut. If the path is hard-edged, the bitmaps will have a hard edge where they were cut (the two halves will mesh perfectly when next to each other).

Note that Smart Knife always cuts a shape into two pieces, no matter how many times the path cuts across it. Therefore, the resulting pieces may be compound paths that consist of several non-intersecting shapes. You can break them into separate elements using the Modify > Combine Paths > Split menu command. Also, the cutting path is deleted in the process of using Smart Knife, so make a copy of it before running the command if you want to keep it around.

Thanks to Dave Hogue for coming up with an interesting use case to inspire a new command!

If by gradient map you literally mean gradient mapping, then unfortunately no, Photoshop is the only tool in the Design and Web Creative Suite that can do that. However, you can certainly make gradients. There also might be a 3rd party plugin for Fireworks that does gradient mapping (there probably is in fact.)

Now, smudging you can do. The smudge tool is found in the Bitmap section of the tool palette, it's usually under the Blur tool (which looks kind of like a water drop), just hold the mouse down on that tool button and you'll get a little flyout with Blur, Sharpen, Burn, Dodge, and finally Smudge. The smudge tool in Fireworks isn't the most robust smudge tool ever made, but it usually gets the job done and I use it fairly often.

Now for brushes, it sounds like you are describing basically a brush that has a bunch of splatter designs. Fireworks can do some splattery effects with its built in brushes (just click the stroke dropdown and explore the categories), but it doesn't support the same artwork based brushes like Photoshop. To make photo-realistic splatter effects I usually take a stock image of splatter and import it into Fireworks, and just cut up, erase bits, use the clone tool, use blend modes (try Multiply), etc.

Yep, nice trick you found! In fact, using Convert to Alpha and Color Fill on top of the Photoshop Effect and you can get the exact color you want and transparency too. The result is more easily editable than my method so I'd say it's an improvement!

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1) Create a circle (hold shift as you drag with the ellipse tool)
2) In the Properties, for the fill select Gradient > Cone
3) Click the color swatch and make the start and end color the same, but set the start opacity to 100 and the end opacity to 0
4) Copy paste or edit > clone (Ctrl+Shift+D) the circle, now you have two cone gradients
5) For the first cone gradient, change the end node opacity to 50%
6) For the second cone gradient, change the start node opacity to 0%, and the end node opacity to 50%
7) Now for the first circle, use the subselect tool to select the bottom node and delete it, creating a semi-circle. To remove the rounded bottom of the semi-circle, use the subselect tool and hold Alt+Shift as you drag the handles that create the bulge, then move the handle towards its parent node and it will be reduced to nothing.
8) Do the same with the upper circle, but this time delete the top node of the circle to create the lower half semi-circle.

Now you have a gradient that creates a sort of radar sweep. Now you can simply mask that gradient with any set of shapes to create a smooth circular fade out. Attached is a Fireworks PNG with a few examples.